Shopian: 20-month-old girl hit in eye by pellet risks losing eyesight

For barely 20-month-old Hiba Nisar, the world has become half dark.

Hiba Nisar underwent a surgery in the evening (IE)

For barely 20-month-old Hiba Nisar, the world has become half dark. And, while a bandage has been tied on her right eye after she was reportedly hit by a pellet on an eye inside her home in Shopian and underwent immediate surgery, doctors still fear she might lose sight in the injured eye. Though worried about her health, her parents try to draw away her attention from pain, as she cries relentlessly, with chocolates and sweets that visitors bring for her. This tragedy is unfolding on bed number 4 at Shri Maharaja Hari Singh (SMHS) Hospital’s ophthalmology department in Srinagar.

According to The Indian Express, one civilian was killed and over 50 people were injured in the protests, which also led to Hiba’s injury, after clashes broke out between civilians and security personnel in Shopian following an early morning encounter on Sunday.

On that fateful day, Marsala Jan, Hiba’s mother, was home with her two kids when the protests broke out, she told The Indian Express, recounting her ordeal. The family was inside their home when intense gas shelling was going on outside. At one point of time, her five-year-old son began complaining of trouble in breathing and she decided to take her children out, only to find three men firing pellets on the family directly as soon as she opened the door, Marsala recalls.

The family lives in Kaprin, Batgund area of Shopian district, the same village where the encounter broke out on Sunday. Hiba was first taken to a local hospital from where she was referred to Srinagar.

Marsala too suffered a pellet-induced injury on her hand when she put it on Hiba’s face to protect her, the IE reports quoting Marsala as saying. Had she not put her hand on Hiba’s face, the toddler would have got her face disfigured with pellets, Marsala claims.

The parents are also worried about their son, who is staying back home. Nisar Ahmad, the father, tells his relative over the phone in Shopian to check his son’s face and body parts as he fears his son too may have received a pellet, according to the report. He recounts that his wife pushed their son to another side and that saved him from pellets. They did not even leave this small kid, he told The Indian Express, adding he was just praying to God that their daughter has no serious problem in her eye.

Her condition is not good and the family is worried while it waits to see how Hiba responds to the treatment, a doctor at the department of ophthalmology at SMHS says, adding the patient has a perforation in the cornea with pellet in the eye.

“What was her fault? She is too young to understand what has happened to her..I only pray to God to give a severe punishment to those who are responsible for this. As a mother, I only can understand what she is going through,” a wailing Marsala says.